Good Friends, Better Enemies: Brian Myers And Matt Cardona Are In Turmoil On IMPACT TV
We’re past the point of trying for a potential tag team reunion for Brian Myers and Matt Cardona.
The two are now set to square off in tag team action at IMPACT No Surrender, and this has all of the right ingredients to make this a memorable feud between former friends. After they left WWE, both expressed their desire to find their own path in wrestling and didn’t want to team back up again. Myers signed with IMPACT in 202, and Cardona had a short run in AEW, so it seemed like they were on their way to separate singles careers. Cardona showed up in IMPACT in January and fans began to speculate about their tag team status once again, but nothing had changed either one of their minds as far as a reunion goes.
WrestleZone had a chance to speak with both of them in separate interviews before they started trading barbs (and punches) and it seemed like they were on the same page—at least as far as not teaming up was concerned. Cardona noted that they were still friends and had their Major Pod Network content to share behind the scenes, and that was enough for him. Likewise, Myers said it’s no secret that they never wanted to team in the first place, but they were thrown together as a team when they were 18 years old and it just so happened to be successful. He also talked about where the drive to succeed on their comes from, and said they want to reach the goals they set out for themselves to start.
“We both had different visions and aspirations of what we would become in this business and we’ve been very successful together. We’ve been best friends, we have this podcast, a podcast network now and things are going very well for us, but we still have those aspirations of those two 18-year-old kids at wrestling school to get certain things accomplished,” Myers said, “and I think that’s where it all stems from. Right now, I have no interest in being in a tag team with him, and I think he’s in the same boat because we’re both just very determined and have single-minded goals in professional wrestling.”
— It’s funny how your worst enemies always seem to turn out to be all of your (best friend’s) best friends —
Myers and Cardona have always been linked as a tag team, so Myers was also asked what he thought about a potential feud between the two. They already feud outside of wrestling with the Figure Wrestling Federation portion of their Major Pod brand. Thrill Zone versus Turmoil has made for some good fun amongst the collectibles community, but could they also pull it off on IMPACT TV?
Myers seemed to agree, and said his ‘Brian Myers’ you see on IMPACT is based on himself, just turned up a few notches. Although this interview was prior to him stoking the flames by calling Cardona “his Jannetty”, he said the competitive nature between them is something that lends itself to starting that battle, no matter what universe it takes place in.
“If we’re nuts and competitive in something as arbitrary as FWF, then that’s going to obviously spill over into the ring if it comes to it. Like I said, we never really wanted to be partners but it worked out and it was very successful, but we still have all of these things that we want to get done on our own,” Myers said, “Also, me in the ring, and me on IMPACT TV, it’s just like any other super-successful professional wrestler—it’s who you are with the volume amped up. And that’s what I have to do to be a successful pro wrestler. I’ve accepted that into my life and profession.”
— We don’t believe in filler, baby —
The question still remains—how far will this feud go, and will it be successful? The short answer is yes, it will succeed because the best feuds are personal. This one is already being peppered with personal jabs that are geared towards the right group, and it’s getting the slow burn treatment. Myers versus Cardona is a match that should be built towards, not just hot-shotted for TV, and we’re seeing that proof in the past few weeks of TV. Myers fired the first shot at his “Broski” by referring to him as the “Jannetty” of their team, and now we’re seeing the battle lines being drawn, with Cardona siding with perennial good-guy Eddie Edwards this week.
Their match at No Surrender will be the first chapter in their story in IMPACT, as it should be. We’ve seen a few digs on TV and social media so far, including Myers’ dig about Cardona’s AEW run, and it’s all stuff you’ve probably read before—or said yourself if you’re not a fan of either one. This feud will probably get more personal, and IMPACT certainly has the attention of the “Major Pod” fans already too, but it’s a safe bet we’ll see them blurring the lines even more as it progresses. Going back to Myers’ comments about competitive nature is something to highlight because that’s the string IMPACT needs to keep pulling on. If they can make “something as arbitrary” as their action figure federation entertaining, imagine what they can do with 18 years’ worth of pent-up anger and resentment. Brian Myers and Matt Cardona already found success together as partners, and now they can set themselves up for great individual careers by working together again as enemies.
How will veteran Tommy Dreamer offer to challenge Rich Swann for the IMPACT World title at the upcoming No Surrender pay-per-view event? This week’s IMPACT also saw a beloved knockout make a surprise return with ODB coming back to shake up the women’s scene.
If you ‘own the night’ on Tuesdays or simply want to catch up on the brand that is still shaking up the wrestling world, this podcast has you covered. WrestleZone’s Bill Pritchard, Kevin Kellam and Robert DeFelice run down this week’s show on AXS TV and what’s ahead for IMPACT.
Plus some extra discussion about how independent wrestling could possibly run events around WrestleMania week in Tampa, Florida despite the current COVID-19 pandemic.